Disrupting potato crop nutrition management using novel photocatalytic technology to reduce fertilizer use and N losses, while removing pollutants from the air.

A potato field’s fertiliser could soon come partly from the air itself, as a photocatalytic spray converts nitrogen oxide pollutants into plant food. This matters because conventional nitrogen fertilisers are energy-intensive to manufacture and release the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N₂O) after application. Meanwhile, nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) from vehicle exhausts and industry pollute the air and water. The project, led by Crop Intellect with NIAB, SRUC, and Branston Ltd., tailors an existing photocatalytic technology called R-Leaf specifically for potatoes. The spray uses light to turn airborne NOₓ into nitrates that leaves can absorb, cutting the need for synthetic fertiliser without sacrificing yield or quality. If successful, the technology could reduce both agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and urban air pollution simultaneously. Branston will run large-scale field tests to confirm the spray works under real farming conditions. For farmers, the payoff is lower input costs and a simpler route to meeting environmental regulations. For the wider public, cleaner air and water would follow from fewer nitrogen compounds escaping into the environment. The project does not claim to eliminate fertiliser use entirely, but offers a practical, cost-effective way to shrink agriculture’s nitrogen footprint.